Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the stress levels of Pakistani dental students through an established stress assessment tool during lockdown for COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study using a self-administered, voluntarily filled online questionnaire was conducted on undergraduate dental students from first to fourth (Final) years of dental institutes across Pakistan, accredited by the Pakistan Medical & Dental Council (PMDC). Study questionnaire contained questions on demographic details; gender, province of college, province of residence and perceived stress scale of 10 questions.  It also contained questions about the presence of any symptoms relevant to a particular type of stress. i.e. emotional stress, physical (body related) stress, behavioral stress and cognitive stress. Descriptive statistics were calculated for gender, residence of participants, location of institutes, levels of stress and symptoms signifying a particular stress type. Multiple variables of each stress type were compared with categories of perceived stress scores using chi square test. Results: 706 dental students responded. 53.5% were going through high stress levels, 43.4% were going through moderate stress levels while 2.9% were having low stress levels. Majority of the participants with moderate and high stress levels were from institutions located in provinces with increased number of COVID-19 positive cases. Among moderate and highly stressed participants, more than 68% were females. A significant number of dental students reported symptoms pertaining to emotional, physical, cognitive and behavioral stress due to the COVID-19 disease. Conclusion: Majority of Pakistani dental students are suffering from moderate to high stress levels specially in provinces with a higher number of COVID-19 affected reported cases. There are considerable effects on emotional, physical, cognitive and behavioral states of Pakistani dental students due to the spread of this disease.

OBJECTIVE:The objective of this study was to radiographically examine the endodontic treatment performed by final year undergraduate students and interns. METHODOLOGY: Post-obturation periapical radiographs of teeth(n=120) were randomly selected for evaluation. The root canal treatment was performed by final year students under supervision (sixty teeth) and interns (sixty teeth) at FMH College of Medicine and Dentistry, Lahore. The criteria for assessment of the quality of root canal obturation included adequate length, density of root filling, taper, coronal seal and the absence of any procedural errors. The root canal obturations were categorized as acceptable or unacceptable. Frequency and percentage were computed for categorical variables like length of the root filling, taper of the root filling, density of the root filling, coronal seal and fractured instrument. Mean with standard deviation were computed for quantitative variable like designation of dentist. Chi-square test was used to report significant findings. Significance was set at p value of < 0.05. RESULTS: Among the final year students the percentages for adequate length, density, taper and coronal seal were 88.3%, 91.6%, 88.3% and 90% respectively in 60 teeth treated. Among the interns the percentage for adequate length, density, taper and coronal seal were 63.3%, 66.7%, 61.7% and 80% respectively. CONCLUSIONS:The results demonstrated that the quality of root canal obturation was less than ideal in interns compared to final year students. KEY WORDS: Root canal treatment, obturation, radiographic quality, undergraduates, interns HOW TO CITE: Fayyaz A, Ehsan S, Waseem RF. Radiographic evaluation of endodontic treatment performed by undergraduate students and interns.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the trends in endodontic protocols amongst practicing dentists in teaching institutions and private clinics in Lahore. METHODOLOGY: A cross sectional survey was conducted amongst dentists working in the teaching institutions and in the private clinics of Lahore. A pre-piloted questionnaire survey adopted from Kohli et al with slight modifications was used. In this descriptive study 270 practicing dentists were selected using consecutive sampling with a 5% level of significance and margin of error. RESULTS: The 270 respondents had a mean age of 28.16 ± 6.18 participated in this study among which 111 (41.1%) were males and 159(58.9%) were females with the mean age of 30.28 ± 7.416 and 26.68 ± 4.62 respectively (12.2%) were consultants, 175(64.8%) were general dentists whereas 62(23%) were postgraduate residents. In our study population, 76(28.1%) dentists were using magnification among which 67(88.2%) were using loupes and 9(11.8%) were using microscope. The prevalence of the rubber dam usage for isolation among our respondents was 110(40.7%) only, 201(74.4%) dentists reported for routine removal of smear layer. Manual canal preparation technique was the most commonly used method practiced by 149(55.2%) dentists. 136(50.4%) dentists were using beveled needles for irrigation, whereas only 71(26.3%) were using side venting irrigation needles. Majority of the dentists (45.2%) were not using any method to increase the efficacy of the irrigants. CONCLUSION: There are deficiencies in the endodontic protocols followed by majority of the dentists in Lahore and these short comings should be addressed by governing bodies. KEYWORDS: Root canal therapy, Endodontic, Practice Patterns, Dentists HOW TO CITE: Lodhi Sk, Ehsan S, Rafique A, Saleem MN. Trends in endodontic protocols amongst dentists in Lahore. J Pak Dent Assoc 2020;29(4):239-245. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25301/JPDA.294.239 Received: 30 July 2020, Accepted: 08 September 2020

<p><strong>Background and Objective:</strong> The Coronavirus disease 2019 first appeared in the area of Wuhan, China. Dental professionals are at greater risk of getting infected by patients and certain dental procedures involving aerosol generation and proximity to the oropharyngeal region. Therefore, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is recommended to protect skin and mucosa from infected blood or saliva. American Dental Association (ADA) has published recommendations for dental treatment, yet most of the dentists are still hesitant in treating patients. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge and practices of dentists in Pakistan regarding PPE during COVID-19 pandemic. <strong>Methods: </strong>Data collection was done using a well-structured web-based questionnaire (Google forms). The survey form was disseminated by sending the link via email, WhatsApp and other online forums. <strong>Results:</strong> A total of n = 1016 responses were collected. Approximately 91.6% of the participants were young dentists with years of experience 1 &ndash; 10 years. Majority of the participants 76.7% did not have easy access to PPE. A total of 60.8% claimed to be aware of the recent World Health Organizations, Centre for Disease Control and other international guidelines to screen COVID-19 patients at their clinic. Almost all the participants, 95.6%, had never undergone N95 fit-testing in their career. More than half of the participants, 64.4% were not aware of the differences between N95, N99, N100 masks. A positive trend was observed in 91.7% of the participants when asked about washing hands or uses an alcohol-based sanitizer before every patient encounter. More than three quarter (81%) of the participants was not performing aerosol producing procedures at their practices. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> Majority of dentists were found to have adequate knowledge and practice scores, which is important to combat COVID-19. However there still many gaps in their knowledge and practices which need to be highlighted to ensure safe dental practice for both patients and dentists.</p>

OBJECTIVES: Root canal treatment (RCT) is performed to get rid of pain resulting from the infection in the tooth. It is a safe procedure with high success rate. One of the main issues with root canal treatment is post-operative pain. There are many factors which can cause pain and distress to patients. If the clinician follows the guidelines properly and use the anxiety reduction protocol, then the procedure is not painful. RCT can be performed in multiple visits or it can be done in single visit. Present research was conducted to compare the single visit versus multiple visits endodontic treatment in teeth with pulpal necrosis in terms of post-operative pain frequency. METHODOLOGY: This study was a randomized controlled trial conducted at Department of Operative Dentistry, Fatima Memorial Hospital, Lahore, over a period of six months. Total number of participants was 302 and the teeth were lower and upper first and second molars with pulp necrosis and they were were equally assigned in two groups of 151with equal number of men and women. Single visit RCT was done in Group A patients, in which the endodontic procedure was performed in one day and multiple visit RCT was done in Group B, in which endodontic treatment was done in two or more visits. RESULTS: In necrosed teeth single visit endodontic treatment 20.5(%) resulted in less frequent post-operative pain than in multiple visit endodontic treatment (26.5%). CONCLUSION: Single visit endodontic treatment is a better technique in terms of pain control as compared to multiple visit in teeth with pulp necrosis. KEYWORDS: Endodontics, Non-vital teeth, Post-operative pain, single visit root canal treatment, multiple visit root canal treatment.